Imagine this…. Your family of four lives in a three-bedroom home, built in 1950. Your two children, ages two years old and 18 months, enjoy playing in the yard. The yard is fully fenced to keep your children safe. Your children have grown used to loud sounds from the nearby shooting range, and they always stop to watch the small planes fly overhead as they takeoff from the local airport. You give your children a snack on the front porch, an apple sauce packet and leftover dark chocolate from the local grocery store, which the children eat quickly.
You work hard to keep your family safe from the risks in the community, but what about the dangers lurking inside of the fence? Lead dust from chipping or peeling paint may have settled in the yard. Lead contamination may be in the dirt from the busy road and the former fruit orchard that your housing development was built on.
The children in this story were being repeatedly exposed to lead in their play space, their home, and even from their snack. The amount of lead that it takes to poison a child is roughly equal to one grain of salt in two liters of water. The only way to know if someone has been exposed to lead is through blood lead testing. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that all children be tested at age one year and again at age two years.
There is no safe level of lead.
For more information on lead and the risks it poses to your family, the Snohomish County Health Department has created a video series: Protect Your Children's Future from Lead. We hope you will take the opportunity to view these short, but informative videos.
For questions, please reach out to the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program leadprogram@co.snohomish.wa.us or by phone at 425-258-8401. More information can also be found on our website – www.snohd.org/lead